Maada Bio gets the green light for a second term.

By Baillor Jalloh

Sierra Leone’s president Dr. Julius Maada Bio has been re-elected for a second term in office after securing 1,566.932 (56.17%) of the total votes cast on Saturday, 24th June 2023. According to Sierra Leone’s electoral Commission his main rival Dr. Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara, leader of the All Peoples Congress received 1,148,262 (41.16%) and Chernor Mohamed Bah from the National Democratic Party secured 21,620 (0.77%).

President Bio casting his vote on Saturday

The results were announced on Tuesday afternoon by the chief electoral commissioner of the ECSL Mohammed Kenewui Konneh. Meanwhile, The APC and Dr. Kamara have rejected the results and are planning to challenge the results to the high court. On Tuesday, Dr. Kamara tweeted through his Tweeter account, rejecting the results and describing it as “unfortunate.”

Dr. Samura Kamara casting his vote on Saturday’s polls

The results came just days after Dr. Kamara and some of his APC colleagues were surrounded by security forces at their party’s head quarters in Freetown, where they were sprayed with tear gas and one of their volunteer was also shot dead. Meanwhile, on Sunday, African Voices Platform interviewed information Minister Mohamed Rahman Swaray, he described last Saturday’s polls as “overwhelmingly peaceful” and called on all Sierra Leoneans to continue being law abiding and peaceful. AVP contacted the APC for a comment but no one was available for an interview, however, we received a statement which highlighted attacks on their party agents and supporters. The party urged all their supporters to be law abiding and peaceful.